Rising rents. Stagnant wages. Homelessness. Gentrification. Today's big stories in Los Angeles have a common thread: a gap in social and economic equity. A report found that L.A. has the 7th highest level of income inequality in the country.

John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “12 Years a Slave” continues to tackle subjects that are relevant to today’s America. The unstoppable Ridley is now working on a comic book sequel, “The American Way: Those Above and Those Below.”

The Chickens in Armando Lerma's 'La Fiesta en el Desierto' | KCET

The Chickens in Armando Lerma's 'La Fiesta en el Desierto'

For Desert X, Armando Lerma created his own mural on half of the El Tepeyac store. Hear the story of his mural's chickens, how they came to be in his artwork and the artist's role as a bridge between those who appreciate art and those who are more geared toward business and commerce.

Will Boone's "Monument" is an installation that ties back to the artist's fascination with John F. Kennedy's death and his personal connection to it as a Texan. Summon the courage to step into an all-black underground bunker in the middle of the desert

Full Episodes

Frank Lloyd Wright accelerated the search for L.A.'s authentic architecture. This episode explores the provocative theory that his early homes in L.A. were also a means of artistic catharsis for Wright.

Will Boone's "Monument" is an installation that ties back to the artist's fascination with John F. Kennedy's death and his personal connection to it as a Texan. Summon the courage to step into an all-black underground bunker in the middle of the desert

Upcoming Airdates

Season 9, Episode 3

This episode profiles prominent artist Doug Aitken who for more than 20 years has shifted the perception and location of images and narratives. His multichannel video installations, sculptures, photographs, publications, happenings and architectural works demonstrate the nature and structure of our ever-mobile, ever-changing, image-based contemporary condition. In his newest piece, “Underwater Pavilions,” he creates a conversation with the viewer to become fully present and immersed in the sea.

Season 9, Episode 4

This look at Los Angeles’ Olvera Street is part-history lesson and part-immersion in stereotype of the birthplace of Los Angeles. Emmy® award-winning journalist, author and musician Rubén Martínez, explores the sometimes-violent, 200-year struggle for the political and symbolic control of the city as told in “Variedades” – an interdisciplinary per¬for¬mance se¬ries that brings to¬gether music, spoken word, theater, comedy and the visual arts, loosely based on the Mexican vaude¬ville shows of early 20th century Los Angeles.

Season 9, Episode 5

In East Los Angeles during the late 1960s and 1970s, a group of young activists used creative tools like writing and photography as a means for community organizing, providing a platform for the Chicano Movement in the form of the bilingual newspaper/magazine La Raza. In the process, the young activists became artists themselves and articulated a visual language that shed light on the daily life, concerns and struggles of the Mexican-American experience in Southern California and provided a voice to the Chicano Rights Movement.

Season 9, Episode 6

Throughout its history, the natural beauty of California has inspired artists from around the world from 19th-century plein air painting of pastoral valleys and coasts to early 20th-century photography of the wilderness (embodied famously in the work of Ansel Adams) and the birth of the light and space movement in the 1960s. Today, as artists continue to engage with California’s environment, they echo and critique earlier art practices that represent nature in “The Golden State” in a particular way. Featuring artists Richard Misrach and Hillary Mushkin.

While matriarchs may hold enormous symbolism in art history, women taking on motherhood may be the last taboo in contemporary art. Mother artists Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Tanya Aguñiga, Rebecca Campbell and Andrea Chung confront the stakes while exploring the realities of art and motherhood. Some artists idealize motherhood, choosing to showcase strength and inspiration, while others seem to highlight the traumatic aspects. The range of depictions of maternal love leaves no doubt that motherhood is a complex and difficult task.

Some say that Instagramming art actually ruins the art experience, I argue that social media and selfie culture add another layer to the experience of the art which is radically different from how art was experienced before the rise of social media.

Frank Lloyd Wright's interest in the Maya style was not an isolated case. The legendary architect's textile block houses cannot be understood independently of this wider phenomenon of cross-cultural appropriations.

Few architects have left such a lasting impression and legacy as Frank Lloyd Wright. His works dot across the United States. For the intrepid, here's a map of his works in California, including a few hidden gems.

Frank Lloyd Wright accelerated the search for L.A.'s authentic architecture. This episode explores the provocative theory that his early homes in L.A. were also a means of artistic catharsis for Wright.